The Mythologies of Capitalism and the End of the Soviet Project

Description

The purpose of The Mythologies of Capitalism and the End of the Soviet Project is to show that in order to understand popular disillusionment with democratization, liberalization, and other transformations associated with the attempts of non-Western societies to appropriate the ideas of Western modernity, one must consider how these ideas are mythologized in the course of such appropriations. Olga Baysha argues that the seeds of popular post-revolutionary frustration should be sought in pre-revolutionary discourses on democracy, liberalism, and other concepts of Western modernity that are produced outside local contexts and introduced through the channels of global communication and the interpretations of politicians, activists, and experts. Analyzing the opinions of working people and intellectuals published in two Ukrainian newspapers of perestroika times, the author shows how the concepts of democracy, the market, and the West acquired schizophrenic mythical significations. The study is situated within the context of Ulrich Beck's theory of world risk society and Gregory Bateson's theory of schizophrenia as communicative disorder.
The author argues that schizophrenic mythologies constructed through globalized networks can lead to disorientation, frustration, and the sense of uncertainty and insecurity on the part of mass publics.show more

About Olga Baysha

Olga Baysha is assistant professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation.show more

Table of contents

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PART I. MODERNITY AND MYTH CHAPTER 1. Modernity and Its Projects Modernity, Colonization, and Globalization Multiple Modernities and Cultural Hybridization Modernization through Internal Colonization The Myth of Enlightenment CHAPTER 2. Deconstructing Mythologies Roland Barthes's Mythologies The Schizophrenia of the Network The Idea of Framing Frame Analysis of Modernization Myths PART II. SOVIET MODERNITY CHAPTER 3. The Rise and Fall of an Alternative Project Great Transformation Stagnation and Gorbachev Reforms CHAPTER 4. The Discourses of Perestroika Democracy Market The United States PART III. THE VERNACULAR VS. THE ELITE On Methodology CHAPTER 5. Mythologizing Democracy Intellectual Mythology: The Highway of Civilization Vernacular Mythology: Power to the People! CHAPTER 6. Mythologizing the Market Intellectual Mythology: The invisible Hand Vernacular Mythology: Enriching Working People CHAPTER 7. Mythologizing the United States: The Horn of Plenty PART IV. THE SCHIZOPHRENIA OF PERESTROIKA CHAPTER 8. The Twilight Zone The Spirit of Hopelessness World Risk Society The Logic of Both / And CHAPTER 9. Schizophrenia as a Communicative Disorder Double Bind Network Schizophrenia and the Public Sphere CHAPTER 10. Personal Reflections CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources: Media Articles Secondary Sources APPENDIX A . Research Design Data Collecting Coding APPENDIX B . Statistical Resultsshow more

Review quote

Baysha's point is not simply that 'the intellectuals' were deluded or cynical tools and that Soviet citizens were misled and taken advantage of...more important is her argument that what took place here was a form of collective communicative disorientation. Russian Reviewshow more